HISTORY

Leader Désiré Guillaume, at the head of No.

350 (Belgian) Sqn RAF, the first all-Belgian

squadron, which would write one of the most

beautiful pages of its history at Dieppe.2)

Daniel Le Roy du Vivier's fighting spirit earned him the honour of adding a bar to his

DFC ribbon.

“Since being awarded the DFC, this officer

has continued to display skilful airmanship.

He participated in 4 sorties in the combined

operation at Dieppe on 19th August 1942 and

the successes achieved by his squadron can

be attributed largely to S/Ldr Le Roy du Vivier's masterly influence and outstanding

leadership.”

Phooto: album Prévot via A. Bar

On the Mediterranean Theatre

Photo: via A. Bar

The “Boy”. Wing Commander Le Roy du Vivier, D.F.C. & Bar.

Photo of some of the pilots with Wing Commander Le Roy du Vivier.

22

INFO Eduard

In September 1942, No. 43 Sqn was placed

on Non-Ops status before being transferred

to the Mediterranean theatre. Daniel Le Roy

du Vivier, after 26 months with the squadron,

including 9 months as its CO, was appointed

Wing Commander and transferred to No. 13

Group Staff, in charge of training. He took

advantage of this new assignment to undergo the Pilot Instructor Course at the Central

Gunnery School at Sutton Bridge, from December 1942 to February 1943. He graduated above average and returned to Group

Headquarters. But other horizons would

open for him: those of the Mediterranean,

where the fortune of the tide would soon

change sides.

In May 1943, the Afrikakorps laid down its

arms at Tunis, bringing the North African

Campaign to an end, which had made the

names of Tobruk, El Alamein, Rommel and

Montgomery famous, and where the name

of the small island of Malta, a key position

between Sicily and Libya, had become synonymous with tenacity and inflexible resistance.

On April 13, 1943, Daniel Le Roy du Vivier was

transferred to the Middle East Command

staff and in May, he was appointed Wing Leader of No. 239 Wing of the Desert Air Force, the nucleus of the Mediterranean Allied

Tactical Air Force set up in January 1943.

Five squadrons made up the Wing (Nos. 112,

250, 260, 450 Sqn RAF & 3 Sqn SAAF). Leaving Kairouan in Tunisia, they were redeployed to Malta at Safi, Hal Far and Luqa Airfields. Equipped with Kittyhawks, they were

mainly engaged in ground attack missions.

It was in Malta that Daniel Le Roy du Vivier

took command of the Wing, which was immediately readied in preparation for the

Allied landings in Sicily, the prelude to the

Italian Campaign and the first stage in the

assault on Fortress Europe. Interdiction

and armed reconnaissance missions followed one another. From July 9, the day

of the landing, direct support missions for

ground troops were added. By July 13, the

Wing redeployed to Pachino in the south of

Sicily from where the Kittyhawks continued

their missions, most of the time under the

protection of Spitfires of No. 324 Wing, which

June 2022